Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Tunnel to the Indian Border

Construction workers prepare for the completion of the tunnel on a highway that links Tibet's Metok County to the outside world in Metok of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region (Xinhua)

More on the new road (and the tunnel) to the Indian border in Metok County in Southern Tibet.See my yesterday's post.

Tunnel of Highway Linking Tibet's Metok Completed
2010-12-15
Xinhua
Web Editor: Zhangxu
Construction of the tunnel on a highway that links Tibet's Metok County to the outside world was completed when explosives blasted through the final section at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The construction crew announced the success of the blast, which took 152 kg of explosives, and workers from both ends met at 10:28 a.m.
It took construction workers more than two years to complete the construction of the 3,310-meter Galongla Tunnel, built at an altitude of 3,750 meters.
It is part of a planned highway that will link Metok County to the outside world, which is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2011.
Metok County, with a population of 11,000, is China's last county with no highway link.
Snow and rain make the mountain roads impassable for nine months of the year, and the walk out of the mountains can take about 10 hours.
The 117-km Metok Highway, linking Bome and Metok counties, will shorten the time dramatically as the journey through the tunnel will take just half an hour.
About 90 km of highway between the end of the tunnel and Metok County, in Nyingchi Prefecture, has yet to be built.